More Fire Crews heading east

More fire crews from northwestern Ontario are heading east to battle wild fires

in Quebec.

On Friday, fire rangers from bases in Kenora, Dryden, Fort Frances, and Sioux Lookout were
dispatched to Val D'or.

Currently Ontario has 30- four person initial attack crews, four aircraft including two water
bombers and assorted support staff in Quebec.

Because of all the rain, there hasn't been any significant forest fire activity in northwestern
Ontario over the past few days.

Traffic meeting next week

Local residents will get not one, but two chances to give feedback about the
traffic design in downtown Kenora.

Public meetings will be held next Tuesday at City Hall after councillors
complained recently about everything from the length of the traffic lights to
left turns off of Main Street South and the pedestrian crossing.

The first meeting will take place at 8:00 in the morning in council chambers
followed by another session at 2:00.

People who can't attend the meetings can still submit their suggestions, in writing
to city hall by June 30th.

Hospital Wait Times Released

Lake of the Woods District Hospital still has some work to do in order to meet provincial targets for wait times.

In the most recent statistics released by the Ministry of Health, wait times in the emergency room were longer that the goal set by by the province.

For a minor medical condition, wait time in the Emergency room was
5.3 hours.

The provincial target is four hours.

For complicated conditions requiring more time for diagnosis, treatment
or hospital admission, the wait time was 9.6 hours.

The provincial goal is 8 hours.

HST exemptions for First Nations?

There are reports indicating continued point of sale HST exemption for Ontario's first nations will be

announced soon.

That's music to the ears of the Grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation.

Stan Beardy says treaty rights give his people PST exemption and having that continued with
the provincial portion of the HST is great for his people.

Beardy says the official annoucement is expected to come by Friday.

Machin Budget Passed

Homeowners in Vermillion Bay are going to have to dig a little deeper to pay their

taxes this year.

Machin Town Council passed the 2010 budget this week and it includes a four
percent increase.

Mayor Garry Parkes says initially there were dealing with an 8 percent hike
in taxes, but were able to chisel that down.

Parkes says they had to cut a few things from their capital budget, including
extra road work this year.

Treaty Three Demands Action from OPP Commish

The commissioner of the OPP is being personally asked to address, what Treaty Three describes as social unrest, which is the result of the shooting of a 39 year old Grassy Narrows woman last week.


Grand Council Treaty #3 issued the challenge yesterday.

Grand Chief Diane Kelly says the OPP promised to provide bias-free policing in the City of Kenora when they took over from the Kenora Police Service last year, but suggests the shooting is not a good start.

Kelly is also asking Public Safety Minister Rick Bartolucci to involve the Treaty Three Police as a partner or oversight agency in the SIU investigation of the shooting.

She says first nations people don't trust a fair investigation will happen, and have the
Treaty Three Police involved will provide some reassurance.